PAM. 

SEAM. 


<_ 


1/1  . fl 


REV.  MBr  HARDING'S  SERMON 

BEFORE  THE 

PALESTINE  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 


PREACHED  AT  ABINGTON,  MASS.,  JUNE  16,  185^. 


A 


SERMON 


DELIVERED  BEFORE 

Ctjt  Palestine  J&iBsiottanj  lorirtij, 


AT  THEIR 


THIRTY-SECOND  ANNUAL  MEETING, 


AT  ABINGTON,  MASS.,  JUNE  1C,  1 852. 


BV 

WILLARD  M.  HARDING, 

Pastor  of  the  Union  Congregational  Church  in  Weymouth. 


BOSTON: 

WM.  BENSE,  PRINTER,  130  WASHINGTON  ST. 
1852. 


S E R MON. 


MATTHEW  xxvi : 8. 

TO  WHAT  PURPOSE  IS  THIS  WASTE  ? 

This  inquiry  was  occasioned  by  an  interesting  and  in- 
structive incident  in  the  Saviour’s  life.  Being  at  the 
house  of  a friend  in  Bethany,  Mary,  the  sister  of  Lazarus, 
came  with  an  alabaster  box  of  very  precious  ointment,  and 
poured  it  on  his  head  as  he  sat  at  table.  “ When  his  disci- 
ples saw  it  they  had  indignation,  saying,  To  what'purpose 
is  this  waste  ? For  this  ointment  might  have  been  sold 
for  much  and  given  to  the  poor.  ” This  occurrence  is 
recorded  by  three  of  the  Evangelists,  but  from  John  alone 
we  learn  the  name  of  the  individual  * who  raised  the  ob- 
jection to  Mary’s  costly  offering.  It  ivas  costly.  She 
was  not  guilty  of  bestowing  what  cost  her  nothing.  This 
fact  gives  importance  to  the  incident,  and  should  not  be 
overlooked'.  The  ointment  was  rare,  difficult  to  be  ob- 
tained, and  was  valued  at  three  hundred  pence. f The 
mind  of  the  objector  fixed  only  on  the  expense.  Iiis  cold 
and  covetous  heart — whose  god  was  gold,  and  whose 
baseness  was  afterwards  seen  in  the  betrayal  of  his 
Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver — was  a stranger  to 
that  pure  and  generous  love  which,  in  Mary,  prompted 

* Compare  Matt.  26  : 6 — 13  ; Mark  14  : 3 — 9,  and  John  12  : 1 — 8. 

1 340. 


4 


an  offering  so  costly.  But  the  Saviour  viewed  this  ex- 
pression in  altogether  a different  light,  and  he  spoke  of 
it  in  terms  of  the  highest  commendation.  He  looked  be- 
yond the  expense  ; he  saw,  and  appreciated,  and  honored 
the  end  for  which  the  expenditure  was  made.  He  saw 
that  this  profusion  in  Mary  was  simply  the  expressive  ex- 
hibition of  her  devoted  attachment  to  her  Lord,  and  of 
her  ardent  gratitude  toward  the  benefactor  by  whose  hand 
she  had  received  a brother  restored  to  life  from  the  dark- 
ness and  decay  of  the  tomb,  and  at  whose  feet  she  had 
sat  and  learned  the  lessons  of  holy  wisdom.  He  there- 
fore rebuked  those  narrow  views  which,  overlooking  the 
design  of  the  offering  and  fixing  only  upon  the  expense,  con- 
demned it  as  extravagant  ; and,  giving  it  the  seal  of  his 
own  most  decided  approbation,  he  declared  that  it  should 
be  proclaimed  world- wide,  live  through  all  time,  and  be- 
come an  everlasting  memorial  to  her  praise. 

This  murmuring  inquiry,  “ To  what  purpose  is  this 
waste  ? ” is  sometimes  uttered,  and  perhaps  oftener  felt, 
in  respect  to  that  great  enterprise  whose  interests,  in  one 
subordinate  branch,  we  have  met  this  day  to  promote.  It 
is  even  questioned  by  some  whether  the  funds  contributed 
ever  reach  farther  than  the  support  of  “Missionary 
Rooms,”  agents  and  secretaries  ; and  by  others,  whether 
the  results  secured  on  heathen  ground  are,  after  all,  suf- 
ficient to  warrant  the  expenditure  of  life  and  treasure 
which  the  missionary  cause  demands.  They  refer  us  to 
the  thousands  already  expended,  and  to  the  valuable 
lives  sacrificed  in  this  work,  and  exclaim,  “ To  what 
purpose  is  this  waste  ? ” 

Wealth  is,  indeed,  expended,  and  life  is  sacrificed  in 
carrying  forward  the  work  of  missions.  Many  who  might 
have  been  useful  and  honored  in  their  native  land,  have 


5 


tnken  their  lives,  as  it  were,  in  their  hands  and  gone 
forth  from  the  abodes  of  friendship  and  affection  to  bear 
the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ  to  the  lost  children  of 
men.  They  have  left  the  comforts  and  refinements  of 
home  to  meet  the  perils  of  a foreign  clime  and  tread  a 
heathen  soil ; to  dwell  amid  barbarism  and  superstition, 
and  strive  to  elevate  the  brutish  to  the  dignity  of  man- 
hood and  to  the  fellowship  of  angels.  Many  of  these 
have,  indeed,  fallen  at  the  entrance  of  the  vineyard,  or 
after  only  a brief  career  and  in  the  midst  of  life.  The 
loss  of  these  men  is  great  ; but  is  such  a sacrifice  never 
to  be  made  ? Is  there  no  end  whose  attainment  will 
warrant  an  offering  so  costly  ? Is  not  the  affirmative  to 
this  inquiry  written  in  the  history  of  all  nations  and  ages  ? 
Is  it  not  given  in  the  blood  and  treasure  expended  in  the 
cause  of  civil  liberty  ? Are  not  the  records  of  the  past 
replete  with  evidence  that  mankind  have  judged  some 
ends  worthy  of  any  sacrifice  within  their  power  ? 
Yes,  “ life,  fortune,  and  sacred  honor,”  have  been 
pledged  for  such  ends,  and  generations  have  risen  to 
honor  the  pledge  ; and  no  murmuring  tongue  has  ven- 
tured to  whisper  the  inquiry,  “ To  what  purpose  is  this 
waste  ? ” With  far  less  reason  can  this  objection  be 
raised  in  reference  to  any  expenditures  and  sacrifices 
made  in  the  cause  of  missions.  To  illustrate  this,  is  the 
design  of  the  present  discourse.  A more  formal  and  defi- 
nite statement  of  the  subject  may  be  thus  given, — 

The  results  of  missionary  efforts  are  an  ample  remune- 
ration for  all  the  expenditure  and  sacrifice  which  they  de- 
mand. 

In  enumerating  the  results  of  missions,  and  estimating 
their  value,  many  have  confined  their  attention  to  those 
which  have  been  secured  within  the  last  half  century. 


6 


Tliey  speak  of  what  they  term  the  “ Missionary  Age,” 
as  though  it  began  in  the  clays  of  Cary  in  England,  and 
of  Mills  in  America  ; and  draw  their  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  cause  from  the  fruits  gathered  since  that  period. 
These  fruits  are,  indeed,  abundant,  and  far  more  than 
compensate  for  all  they  have  cost.  Within  the  period 
named,  it  may  justly  be  said  that  a new  impulse  has  been 
given  to  the  cause  of  missions,  and  its  progress  has  been 
far  greater  than  during  any  previous  period  of  equal 
length.  But  to  dwell  so  exclusively  upon  that  period  as 
some  have  done,  has  a tendency  to  produce  the  impres- 
sion that  the  missionary  enterprise  is  a modern  invention, 
distinct  from  Christianity  itself,  and  employed  to  drain 
the  resources  of  the  church  and  waste  her  energies 
in  some  far  off  region.  But,  if  it  does  not  produce 
such  an  impression,  it  is,  nevertheless,  a view  of  missions 
far  too  limited  and  specific.  The  cause  of  missions  is 
identical  with  the  cause  of  Christianity.  The  terms  are 
synonymous.  The  birth  of  the  one  was  the  birth  of  the 
other ; the  progress  of  the  one  has  been  the  progress  of 
the  other  ; the  claims  of  the  one  are  the  claims  of  the 
other  ; the  results  of  the  one,  temporal  and  spiritual,  are 
the  results  of  the  other.  Heaven  was  the  birth-place  of 
missions,  and  the  Son  of  God  was  the  first  sent  forth  as  a 
foreign  missionary.  lie  made  Judea  the  first  specific  field 
of  missionary  operations  ; and  having  trained  a company 
of  “native  helpers,”  he  sent  them  forth  “to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.”  The  twelve  “ departed 
and  went  through  the  towns  preaching  the  Gospel  and 
healing  everywhere.”  Subsequently  he  “ appointed 
seventy  others  and  sent  them  two  and  two  before  his  face 
into  every  city  and  place  whither  he  himself  would  come.” 
Teaching  his  disciples,  at  his  ascension,  that  repentance 


t 

and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in  his  name 
among  all  nations,  “ beginning  at  Jerusalem,”  he  made 
that  city  the  central  and  radiating  point  of  future  missions. 

Immediately  after  this,  the  apostles  prepared  to  carry 
into  execution  his  last  command,  and  began  their  mission- 
ary labors.  Beyond  Judea  all  was  heathen  ground.  Idol- 
atrous worship  everywhere  prevailed.  The  gloom  of  a 
moral  night  rested  upon  the  nations,  in  which  they  were 
groping  their  way  to  a deeper  and  more  dreadful  dark- 
ness in  the  future.  Such  was  the  state  of  the  world  when 
that  first  band  of  missionaries  moved  forth  from  Jerusalem 
to  break  the  silence  of  the  great  sepulcher  of  moral  death 
in  which  earth’s  entire  population  lay  entombed,  and  call 
upon  the  “ dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  ” to  arise. 

To  accompany  these  laborers  in  all  their  travels  amid 
“ perils  by  sea  and  land,”  and  recount  the  various  suc- 
cesses which  crowned  their  efforts,  would  be  impossible 
on  the  present  occasion.  The  inspired  record  of  their 
“Ads”  that  “ Missionary  Herald  ” of  the  primitive 
churches,  is  familiar  to  us  all,  and  affords  whatever  the 
Holy  Spirit  deemed  important  to  be  transmitted,  in  that 
form,  for  our  instruction  and  example.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  within  their  own  lifetime  they  were  permitted  to  see 
the  Gospel  introduced  into  the  regions,  and  churches  es- 
tablished and  flourishing  in  the  principal  cities,  around 
Judea.  Making  his  way  westward  beyond  the  general 
circumference  of  their  missionary  field,  Paul,  more  es- 
pecially “ the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,”  entered  Italy  and 
preached  for  the  space  of  two  years  in  the  imperial  city, 
Rome,  and  numbered  among  his  converts  some  of  Caesar’s 
household.  He  seems  to  have  purposed  * a mission  still 
farther  westward,  into  Spain,  but  we  have  no  reliable 

* Rom.  15:  24,  28. 


8 


testimony  that  he  ever  carried  that  purpose  into  execu- 
tion. 

These  laborers  went  forth,  “ as  it  were,  appointed  unto 
death,  being  made  a spectacle  unto  the  world,  and  to 
angels,  and  to  men  ; suffering  hunger,  thirst,  bonds,  im- 
prisonment, mockirgs,  scourgings,  stoning,  and  were 
counted  as  the  filth  of  the  earth,  and  the  offscouring  of  all 
things.”  Yet  never  was  the  murmuring  inquiry  heard 
among  them,  “ To  what  purpose  is  this  waste  ” — of  ease, 
energy,  and  life  ? With  the  spirit  of  her  who,  at  so  cost- 
ly a price,  annointed  her  Lord  “ for  his  burial ; ” with 
“ the  love  of  Christ  constraining  them,”  they  counted  not 
their  life  dear  unto  them,  so  that  they  might  finish  their 
course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which  they  had  received 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  testify  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God.  Wherever  they  went,  they  were  not  only  instru- 
mental of  introducing  the  Gospel  and  gathering  assem- 
blies of  hearers,  but  of  effecting  a change  in  the  character 
of  the  people.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  particular 
and  more  prominent  form  of  iniquity,  which  had  arisen 
from  the  general  stratum  of  depravity  and  characterized  a 
place,  they  found  the  Gospel  adequate  to  its  overthrow. 
Among  other  places,  for  example,  they  entered  Corinth. 
This  city,  “ totius  Grcecce  lumen  ct  dccus,”  (of  all  Greece 
the  light  and  ornament,)  because  then  the  seat  of  all  that 
was  erudite  in  science,  elegant  in  literature,  beautiful  and 
grand  in  architecture,  and  polished  in  art,  was  filled  with 
philosophers,  rhetoricians,  and  artists  of  every  kind.  It 
was  distinguished  for  its  schools  of  science  and  literature  ; 
and  to  receive  instruction  in  these,  persons  resorted 
thither  from  all  quarters.  But  the  luster  derived  from 
the  circumstances  named,  was  tarnished  by  the  corrupt 
and  lascivious  character  of  its  inhabitants.  In  this  respect, 


0 


also,  it  is  said  to  have  surpassed  any  other  city  of  Greece. 
Here  was  the  temple  of  Venus,  whose  priestesses,  num- 
bering more  than  a thousand,  were  harlots,  and  the  very 
scenes  of  worship  were  the  scenes  of  debauchery  the  most 
gross  and  public.  To  this  sin,  Paul,  in  his  first  epistle 
to  the  Corinthians,  makes  especial  and  prominent  refer- 
ence, and  bids  them  “ flee  fornication.”  When  enume- 
rating the  different  classes  of  the  unrighteous  who  can 
have  no  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  he  adds, 
“ and  such  were  some  of  you.”  Some,  therefore,  were 
reclaimed  from  this  species  of  sin  by  the  power  of  the 
Gospel  ; and  among  the  recorded  results  of  the  mission 
to  this  city  we  read,  “ and  many  of  the  Corinthians  hear- 
ing, believed,  and  were  baptized.” 

Afterwards  the  Gospel  was  introduced  into  Ephesus,  a 
city  famed  for  its  commerce  and  wealth,  and  for  being 
the  metropolis  of  the  lesser,  or  peninsular  Asia.  The 
Ephesians,  like  the  people  of  Corinth,  were  dissolute  and 
guilty  of  practices  in  secret,  of  which,  said  Paul,  “ it  is 
a shame  even  to  speak.”  Their  city,  moreover,  was  re- 
garded as  the  very  throne  of  idolatry  ; for  the  worship  of 
idols  was  performed  in  no  part  of  the  world  with  greater 
splendor  than  at  Ephesus.  There  stood  the  spacious  and 
magnificent  temple  of  “ the  great  goddess  Diana,”  in 
whose  erection  the  nations  of  all  Asia  Minor  were  em- 
ployed two  hundred  and  twenty  years.  In  this  temple, 
far  exceeding  in  magnitude  and  splendor  any  ever  erected 
for  the  worship  of  the  true  God,  an  image  of  the  goddess 
Diana  was  worshipped  with  the  most  pompous  rites  by  a 
multitude  of  priests  and  a vast  concourse  of  votaries  from 
every  quarter,  who,  to  gain  the  favor  of  Diana,  came  to 
offer  sacrifice  at  her  shrine.  But  even  into  this  strong- 
hold of  idolatry,  the  Gospel  made  its  triumphant  entrance 


10 


and  drew  away  its  worshippers.  Its  success  was  indi- 
cated, in  part,  by  the  outcry  of  those  who  made  the  sil- 
ver shrines  for  Diana — “ Our  craft  is  in  danger  ! ” 

This  city,  moreover,  was  noted  for  its  arts  of  magic 
and  divination.  But  the  preaching  and  the  miracles  of  the 
apostles  Avere  such  that  “ fear  came  on  them  all,  and  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Avas  magnified.”  For  “ God 
wrought  special  miracles  by  the  hands  of  Paul,”  thus 
showing  Iioav  Avisely  he  adapts  means  to  the  particular 
end  to  be  gained,  and  arms  the  Gospel  with  a power  to 
destroy  every  form  of  human  depravity  which  is  devel- 
oped at  different  times  and  in  different  places.  Many, 
therefore,  ay  ho  had  practised  magical  arts  were  converted  ; 
and,  to  prove  their  sincerity,  brought  out  the  books  Avhich 
contained  the  secrets  of  their  art  and  burned  them  in  pub- 
lic, though  valued  at  fifty  pieces  of  silver.*  In  fine, 
as  the  result  of  missionary  efforts  in  that  city,  it  is  writ- 
ten, “ So  mightily  greAv  the  Avord  of  God  and  prevailed.” 
Thus  might  Ave  folloAV  those  primitive  missionaries  from 
place  to  place,  and,  in  the  moral  changes  wrought,  find 
an  ample  reply  and  a fitting  rebuke,  to  the  querulous  in- 
quiry, “ To  Avhat  purpose  ” did  they  expend  tlieiv  ener- 
gies and  life  in  labors  and  sufferings  ? 

This  Avork  which  the  Saviour  began,  which,  the  apostles 
spent  their  lives  in  prosecuting,  successive  missionaries 
have  carried  on  from  age  to  age  and  nation  to  nation. 
The  same  moral  changes  which  marked  its  progress  under 
the  labors  of  the  apostles,  attended  its  course  among  the 
nations  of  Western  Europe.  To  form  any  just  apprecia- 
tion of  the  changes  produced  among  those  nations  by  the 
introduction  of  the  Gospel,  Ave  need  to  glance,  at  least,  at 
their  previous  state  and  character.  History  informs  us 
* $8,500,  or,  as  some  think,  $25,000. 


11 


that  they  were  in  the  condition  of  savages,  in  no  respect 
superior  to  the  Indians  of  this  country  when  the  Pilgrims 
landed  at  Plymouth,  or  to  the  Hottentots  and  Sandwich 
Islanders  when  first  visited  by  our  missionaries.  The 
Gauls,  the  ancestors  of  the  now  refined  and  polished  peo- 
ple of  France,  lived  in  wandering  tribes,  without  agricul- 
ture, in  temporary  huts,  and  clothed  in  a single  garment 
like  the  “ Indian  blanket”  about  the  shoulders.  “Their 
tall  stature,  savage  features  and  matted  yellow  hair,  ren- 
dered their  aspect  terrible,  and  their  frightful  devasta- 
tions wherever  they  went,  made  them  the  terror  of  the 
western  world.”  Their  religion  was  replete  with  the 
most  horrid  superstitions  and  with  the  sacrifices  of  human 
victims.  They  put  to  death  their  captives,  burned  them 
in  honor  of  their  gods,  carried  about  with  them  the  skulls 
of  the  slain  as  trophies,  and  often  used  them  as  drinking 
vessels.  Their  neighbors  in  the  British  isles  are  described 
as  still  more  savage  and  degraded.  These,  our  own  an- 
cestors, in  Britain,  like  the  aborigines  of  this  country, 
added  to  their  native  wildness  by  painting  their  bodies 
with  various  colors.  The  inhabitants  of  Ireland  not  only 
painted,  but  tattooed  themselves,  and  among  them  human 
flesh  was  esteemed  a delicacy.  The  ancient  Britons 
sometimes  performed  the  rites  of  their  horrid  superstition 
in  dense  and  gloomy  forests,  offering  in  a single  sacrifice 
hundreds  of  human  victims,  frequently  selected  from  the 
choicest  of  their  youth. 

Missionaries  probably  visited  Britain,  if  not  in  the  apos- 
tles’ days,*  as  early  as  the  first  or  second  century,  but 
the  very  limited  progress  of  the  Gospel  in  that  island  for 

* Speaking  of  the  labors  of  tlie  apostles,  Eusebius  says, — Trans  oceanum 
evasisse,  ad  eas  insulas  qua:  Brittanicce  vocantur.  Theodoset  affirms  the 


same. 


12 


several  succeeding  centuries,  seems  to  be  indicated  by 
the  fact  that  as  late  as  the  sixth  century,  “ Gregory  the 
Great,  walking  one  day  in  the  market-place  at  Rome, 
observed  some  remarkably  fine  youths  who  were  bound 
with  cords  and  exposed  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  Struck 
with  their  appearance,  he  stopped  and  asked  whence  they 
came  ; and  on  being  told  they  were  natives  of  Britain, 
he  inquired  whether  the  inhabitants  of  that  island  were 
pagans  or  Christians.  Hearing  that  they  were  pagans, 
he  heaved  a deep  sigh,  and  exclaimed,  ‘ Alas  ! does  the 
prince  of  darkness  possess  such  countenances,  and  are 
forms  so  beautiful,  destitute  of  divine  grace  ? What,’ 
said  he,  c is  the  name  of  the  nation  ? ’ It  was  answered, 
‘Angli,’  or  England.  ‘In  truth,’  said  he,  ‘ they  have 
angelic  faces  ; it  is  a pity  they  should  not  live  hereafter 
with  angels  ! From  what  part  of  the  island  do  they 
come  ? ’ ‘ From  Deira,  or  Northumberland.’  ‘ Then  let 

them  be  delivered  De  ira, — (from  the  wrath  of  God,)  and 
called  to  the  mercy  of  Christ.  What  is  the  name  of  their 
king  ? ’ * Ella'  ‘ Then,’  said  he,  (continuing  to  play 

on  the  name,)  ‘ let  us  teach  them  to  sing  Allelujah.’  ” 
Bearing  in  mind  now  the  state  of  those  natiops,  as 
above  described,  cast  the  eye  along  down  the  track  of 
time,  and  behold  the  missionaries  at  their  work.  The 
nomadic  hordes  are  arrested  in  their  wanderings  by  a new 
and  wonderful  influence,  and  gather  themselves  into  com- 
pact and  well-ordered  communities.  The  thick  gloom  of 
the  ancient  forests  gives  place  to  the  cheerfulness  and 
beauty  of  cultivated  and  fruitful  fields,  to  quiet  cottages, 
fair  villages,  populous  cities,  the  crowded  mart,  and  the 
busy  hum  of  art  and  trade.  The  pagan  mind,  catching 
the  light  of  civilization  and  learning  from  the  lips  of 
Christian  teachers,  exchanges  the  bondage  of  its  super- 


13 


stitions  for  the  blessed  freedom  of  the  Son  of  God.  Schools, 
churches,  and  all  the  institutions  of  religion  and  science 
spring  into  being  and  send  far  and  wide  their  influence. 
Where  once  the  Druid  priests  and  priestesses  held  their 
obscene  and  noisy  festivals  and  shed  the  blood  of  animal 
and  human  victims,  arc  heard  the  voice  of  Christian  wor- 
ship and  the  songs  of  Christian  praise.  In  all  those 
scenes  of  beauty  and  gladness,  and  in  all  those  accents  of 
thanksgiving,  may  it  be  seen  to  what  purpose  that  band 
of  missionaries,  beginning  at  Jerusalem,  and  reproduced 
iu  “ regular,  succession  ” among  each  newly  converted 
people,  had  toiled  their  way  at  length  to,  what  was  then 
regarded,  “ the  ends  of  the  earth.”  For  the  transforma- 
tion which  those  nations  have  undergone,  can  be  ascribed 
to  nothing  but  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  Litera- 
ture and  science  never  would  have  produced  such  a 
change.  They  had  the  field  all  to  themselves,  and  flour- 
ished for  ages  before  the  Gospel  entered  to  contend  for 
the  victory.  But  never,  in  any  place,  under  their  influ- 
ence alone,  as  under  that  of  the  Gospel,  were  the  idols  of 
the  heathen  dashed  to  the  earth,  their  altars  scattered  to 
the  winds,  and  their  temples  deserted  and  demolished,  and 
the  degraded  victims  of  their  impure  and  cruel  super- 
stitions enlightened,  purified,  and  elevated  to  an  alliance 
with  the  worshippers  of  heaven.  They  may  have  divested 
idolatry  of  some  of  its  more  savage  features  and  thrown 
around  its  native  deformity  the  drapery  of  taste  and  ele- 
gance ; but  it  was  idolatry  still,  and,  in  the  eyes  of 
heaven,  an  abomination.  Indeed,  they  multiplied  rather 
than  diminished  the  number  of  idols,  and  strengthened 
rather  than  weakened  their  dominion  over  men. 

How  was  it  at  Corinth  and  at  Athens,  those  ancient  seats 
and  centers  of  art  and  taste,  of  learning  and  eloquence  ? 


14 


What  were  Paul’s  feelings  while  awaiting  in  the  latter 
city  the  arrival  of  his  two  missionary  companions,  Tim- 
othy and  Silas  ? His  spirit  was  stirred  within  him  when 
he  saw  the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry.*  “ Hot  a spot,” 
it  is  said,  “but  had  its  altar;  every  grove  was  conse- 
crated to  its  peculiar  nymphs  or  genii, — to  its  dryads 
and  its  fauns  ; every  stream  and  fountain  had  the  com- 
memorative marble  for  its  own  bright  naiad  ; — the  very 
winds  had  their  immortal  tower,  with  its  still  vivid  tab- 
lets, personifying  and  enlivening  the  mysterious  powers 
of  the  air.  Along  the  plain  shone  the  splendid  colon- 
nades of  the  mighty  temples  of  Jupiter  and  the  Olym- 
pian gods  ; here  and  there,  on  the  lower  hills,  stood  the 
stately  ranges  that  enclosed  the  shrines  of  Erectheus  and 
Theseus,  the  deified  kings  of  old,  and  of  the  later  foreign 
Caesars  ; and  above  all,  on  the  high  Acropolis,  the  noble 
Parthenon  rose  over  the  glorious  city,  proclaiming  to  the 
eye  of  the  distant  traveller  the  honors  of  the  virgin  god- 
dess of  wisdom,  of  taste,  and  philosophic  virtue,  whose 
name  crowned  the  city,  of  which  she  was,  throughout  all 
the  reign  of  Polytheism,  the  guardian  deity.” 

It  was  not  for  the  want  of  literature  and  science,  and 
schools  of  wisdom  and  renown,  that  an  apostle  could  say, 
“ The  whole  world  lieth  in  wickedness,”  and  that  idola- 
try so  long  held  supremacy  over  the  nations.  Human 
wisdom  had,  for  centuries  before  the  apostles  lived,  ex- 
erted and  exhausted  its  power  to  reform.  Historians  had 
recited  their  annals  at  the  public  games,  philosophers  had 
uttered  many  lessons  of  wisdom,  and  solved  the  most  dif- 
ficult problems  in  science  ; orators,  never  more  than 
equalled  since,  had  thrilled  crowded  assemblies  at  Athens 


* Acts  17  : 16. 


15 


and  Rome  ; and  poets  of  noblest  name  had  sung  to  de- 
lighted auditors  in  cottages  and  courts. 

% These  men  were  some  of  the  most  gifted  of  their  race, 
and  their  names  and  works  yet  live  among  the  choice 
treasures  and  the  proud  monuments  of  man.  They  did 
all  that  the  wisdom  of  this  world  could  do  ; and  in  this 
respect  they  did  much  ; but  their  moral  impression  upon 
the  world  was  slight.  Their  instructions,  in  this  particu- 
lar, were  but  the  faintest  glimmerings  of  the  truth  ; and, 
lacking  the  adequate  authority  and  sanctions,  their  ex- 
hortations were  powerless  and  their  maxims  inefficient ; 
and  the  moral  darkness  which  enveloped  society  remained 
almost  unbroken.  They  reached  the  summit  of  excellence 
in  letters,  in  art  and  science,  but  there  remained  unsolved 
the  great  moral  problem, — how  shall  man  become  pure  ? 
There  Avere  given  as  data,  godlike  powers  of  intellect, 
and  moral  powers  the  best  conceivable  in  kind  ; but  their 
practical  result  in  every  man’s  life,  always  disappointed 
the  inquirer  ; and  one  of  the  Avisest  of  the  ancient  phi- 
losophers, speaking  on  the  reformation  of  morals,  said  that 
he  “ despaired  of  finding  a sufficient  expedient  for  that 
purpose.”  Here  the  wisdom  of  those  ancient  sages 
availed  nothing.  It  might  square  the  circle,  it  might 
discover  the  stone  whose  touch  would  transform  all  to 
gold,  but  the  great  inquiry, — 4 how  shall  man  be  elevated 
in  moral  purity — how  shall  he  reach  the  summit  of  moral 
excellence  ? ’ — this  it  could  not  answer. 

Yet  that  period  of  letters  and  of  sages  was  not  without 
its  purpose  in  the  divine  arrangements.  It  may  have 
been  intended  to  teach,  among  other  things,  the  necessity 
of  a more  than  human  power  to  solve  that  great  question 
of  which  we  have  spoken  ; and  to  stand  as  an  ever- dur- 
ing eA'idence  that  the  great  means  of  imparting  moral 


16 


instruction,  purity,  and  happiness  to  man,  is  the  “ glo- 
rious Gospel  of  the  blessed  God,”  proclaimed  by  his  mes- 
sengers, and  rendered,  by  his  own  accompanying  power,' 
efficient  and  successful.  “ For  it  is  written,  I will  des- 
troy the  wisdom  of  the  wise,  and  will  bring  to  nothing  the 
understanding  of  the  prudent.”  In  the  very  face,  there- 
fore, of  that  collected  wisdom  which  the  apostle  found  at 
Corinth,  he  uttered  the  inquiry,  “ Hath  not  God  made 
foolish  the  wisdom  of  this  world  ? For  it  pleased  God  by 
the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save  them  that  believe.” 
Whatever,  therefore,  of  moral  life,  whatever  of  spiritual 
excellence,  the  history  of  the  world  presents,  is  to  be 
placed  among  the  results  of  missions.* 

* The  question  has  been  gravely  raised,  “ Which  has  conferred  the  great- 
er benefits  on  the  world,  Education  or  Christianity?”  A mere  glance  at 
the  history  of  the  two,  and  at  the  state  of  those  places  where  the  former  has 
flourished  without  a knowledge  of  the  latter,  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  set- 
tle the  question.  By  education,  it  is  presumed,  is  meant  general  literature 
and  science.  But  the  design  of  this  note  is  not  to  add  anything  to  the  fore- 
going remarks  in  reference  to  the  above  inquiry,  except  the  citation  of  a 
few  expressions  uttered  by  men  who  knew  by  experience  what  “ education  ” 
could  do,  or  rather  could  not  do,  without  Christianity.  In  regard  to  that 
most  important  of  all  “ benefits”  which  can  be  conferred  on  the  world,  viz., 
a knowledge  of  the  kind  of  worship  which  man  is  to  render  to  his  Maker, 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  sages,  if  we  are  to  believe  their  own  declarations, 
afforded  but  a faint  light.  Yet  it  was  enough  to  render  them  “ without  ex- 
cuse.”! “ We  know  not  what  worship  to  pay  to  the  Deity,”  said  Plato.  In 
the  dialogues  between  Socrates  and  Alcibiades,  on  the  duty  of  religious 
worship,  he  says,  “ To  me  it  appears  best  to  be  quiet ; it  is  necessary  to  wait 
till  you  learn  how  you  ought  to  behave  towards  the  gods,  and  towards  men. 
We  need  a law-giver  from  heaven  to  instruct  us.”  “ When,”  exclaims  Alci- 
biades, “ when,  ()  Socrates,  shall  that  be,  and  who  will  instruct  me,  for 
most  willingly  would  I see  this  man,  who  he  is?”  “ He  is  one,”  replies 
Socrates,  “ who  cares  for  you  ; but  as  Homer  represents  Minerva  as  taking 
away  darkness  from  the  eyes  of  Diomedes,  that  he  might  distinguish  a god 
from  a man , so  it,  is  necessary  that  lie  should  take  away  the  darkness  from 
your  mind  ; and  then  bring  near  those  things  by  which  you  shall  know  good 
and  evil.”  “ Let  him  take  away,”  rejoins  Alcibiades,  “if  he  will,  the  dark- 


t Rom.  1 : 19—32. 


17 


The  missionary  enterprise  was  not  to  cease  its  labors 
and  find  a home  in  the  repose  of  those  scenes  of  natural 
and  moral  beauty  which  it  had  called  forth  in  the  once 
dark  and  pagan  laud  of  our  fathers.  God  has  willed 
that  his  people  shall  enter  voluntarily,  or  be  driven 
into  the  missionary  field.  As  the  first  gathered  church 
in  Jerusalem  was  driven  into  that  field  by  the  storms  of 
persecution,  and,  “being  scattered  abroad,  went  every- 
where preaching  the  word,”  so  the  Puritans,  in  a similar 
manner,  were  compelled  to  cross  the  ocean  and  enter  as 


ness,  or  any  other  thing  for  I am  prepared  to  decline  none  of  those  things 
which  are  commended  by  him,  whoever  this  man  is,  if  I shall  be  made  bet- 
ter.” 

This  passage  is  worthy  of  particular  attention  as  a proof  of  the  necessity  of 
something  which  education  could  not  “ confer  on  the  world.”  In  some  pas- 
sages of  their  writings  those  ancient  heathen  sages  seem  to  exhibit  high  con- 
ceptions of  God.  They  have  also  given  some  moral  precepts ; and  yet  they 
came  far  short  of  any  just  conception  of  Christian  morality.  They  taught 
that  revenge  wras  lawful.  Theft,  adultery,  cruelty,  &c.,  they  countenanced 
both  by  precept  and  example.  Zeno  maintained,  “ that  all  crimes  are  equal, 
and  that  a person  who  has  offended  or  injured  us  should  never  be  forgiven.” 

The  Cynics  held,  “ that  there  was  nothing  shameful  in  committing  acts 
of  lewdness  in  public.”  Aristippus  taught,  “ that  as  pleasure  was  the  sum- 
mum  bonum,  a man  might  practice  theft,  sacrilege,  or  adultery,  as  he  had  op- 
portunity.” Even  Plato  despaired  of  any  improvemept  in  the  state  of 
morals  by  any  means  within  his  reach.  In  his  apology  for  Socrates,  speak- 
ing on  that  subject  he  said,  “ You  may  pass  the  remainder  of  your  days  in 
sleep ; or  despair  of  finding  out  a sufficient  expedient  for  this  purpose,  if 
God  in  his  Providence  do  not  send  you  some  other  instruction.”  Not  one 
of  those  men  was  a good  man,  in  the  Christian  sense  of  that  term.  Proof  of 
this  is  abundant  in  their  own  writings  which,  if  any  one  doubts  the  above 
assertion,  let  him  read  for  his  own  satisfaction.  That  they  were  better  than 
some — than  many,  men  at  the  present  day — that  they  were  better  than 
some  who  bear  the  Christian  name — is  admitted.  It  is  only  when  seen  in 
the  distance  and  through  a reverted  telescope,  and  with  the  natural  re- 
verence for  antiquity,  that  those  ancient  sages  appear  to  such  advantage 
and  excite  so  much  admiration  in  many  minds  who  can  see  beauties  and 
benefits  for  the  world  in  “ Education  ” but  none  in  Christianity.  Education 
is  important,  necessary,  but  not  sufficient. 

3 


18 


missionaries  upon  these  shores.  Whatever  may  have 
been,  in  their  minds,  the  immediate  cause  that  brought 
them  here,  the  more  remote  and  the  primary  cause,  we 
believe,  was  that  purpose  of  God  that  “ all  the  ends  of 
the  earth  shall  see  his  salvation.”  They  found  a land  dark 
as  once  had  been  their  own.  Need  we  detail  the  succes- 
sive steps  by  which  this  spot,  where  once  roamed  the 
wild  beast  and  the  still  wilder  and  more  to  be  dreaded 
savage,  has  become  our  own  loved  and  Christian  home  ? 
Need  we  attempt  the  proof  that  by  the  Gospel,  beyond 
any  and  all  other  causes  combined,  and  by  the  Gospel 
as  proclaimed  by  missionaries,  this  change  has  been  ef- 
fected ? 

In  accordance  with  the  laws  which  had  governed  the 
progress  of  missions  in  all  preceding  ages,  our  own  coun- 
try, after  being  itself  blessed  with  Christian  institutions, 
was  to  become,  in  its  turn,  missionary  and  aid  in  the  on- 
ward movement  of  the  great  enterprise.  More  than  a 
hundred  years  ago,  therefore,  Brainard  entered  upon  his 
work  among  the  Indians  of  what  was  then  the  dark 
“ West.”  At  length,  also,  began  the  missionary  labors 
of  American  Christians  in  foreign  regions  and  the  'islands 
of  the  Pacific.  The  same  horrible  features  of  Paganism 
which  had  been  found  in  all  other  places,  appeared  in 
those  islands  of  the  sea.  Similar  results,  too,  as  else- 
where, crowned  the  efforts  of  missionaries.  The  same 
instrumentality  which  had  drawn  away  the  worshippers 
of  Venus  and  Diana  at  Corinth  and  Ephesus, — which, 
from  the  superstition  and  barbarism  of  Gaul,  of  Britain, 
of  America,  had  raised  up  an  intelligent,  refined,  and 
Christian  people,  has,  within  our  own  memory,  produced 
a like  result  in  the  Sandwich  Islands  ; and  that  infant 
nation,  among  the  evangelized,  stands  a witness  of  God’s 


10 


truth  in  prediction  and  promise,  literally  almost,  in  longi- 
tude, at  the  ends  of  the  earth  from  the  starting-place  of 
missions. 

Thus,  following  the  apparent  course  of  the  natural  sun, 
the  light  of  the  “ Sun  of  Righteousness,”  rising  at  Jeru- 
salem in  the  east,  and,  shedding  its  blessings  from  nation 
to  nation,  has  steadily  advanced  onward  to  the  utmost 
west.  Since  its  first  departure  on  its  sublime  mission, 
those  scenes  of  original  apostolic  labor,  brightened  by  its 
first  rays,  lost  the  faintest  traces  of  that  labor,  and  for 
ages  slumbered  in  a night  that  showed  no  glimmering  of 
the  day  which  once  beamed  upon  them  with  such  splen- 
dor. But  already  has  that  light  reappeared  in  the  east 
to  cheer  with  a new  day  the  hallowed  place  of  its  birth  ; 
and  it  is  a striking  and  interesting  fact,  that  just  as  its 
dawn  broke  upon  “the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth” — 
the  snow-capped  Mound  Kcah — and  Bingham  and  Thurs- 
ton and  their  companions  landed  at  Hawaii , its  recurring 
beams  appeared  on  Mt.  Olivet , and  Parsons  and  Fisk  en- 
tered Jerusalem,  bearing  back,  to  the  then  sadly  changed 
and  heathen  city,  with  its  minaret  and  mosque,  the  very 
message  with  which,  eighteen  hundred  years  before,  the 
apostles  had  set  forth  on  their  mission. 

Successes  like  those  which  attended  missionary  efforts 
in  the  earlier  periods,  have  continued  to  attend  them, 
wherever  employed,  down  to  the  present  hour.  In  all 
those  places  named  in  this  discourse,  and  in  numerous 
others,  and  through  all  those  revolving  centuries,  vast  ex- 
penditures of  wealth,  energy,  and  life,  have  been  re- 
quired, but  will  any  affirm  that  the  results  have  not  been 
an  ample  remuneration  ? Will  any  utter,  still,  the  com- 
plaining inquiry,  “ To  what  purpose  is  this  waste  ? ” — 
when,  in  the  experience  of  the  past,  they  contemplate  the 


20 


results  already  secured,  and  by  the  eye  of  faith,  those 
divinely  promised  in  the  future,  and  pictured  by  the 
prophet’s  and  apostle’s  pen  in  scenes  of  earthly  peace  and 
loveliness,  and  heaven’s  ransomed  and  rejoicing  multi- 
tude? 

But  this  full  reality  is  not  reached  ; “ the  end  is  not 
yet ; ” the  day  of  labor  and  sacrifice  is  not  over  ; “ the 
great  multitude  ” is  not  all  gathered  in,  and  we  are  to 
gird  for  the  toil  and  the  conflict.  For  these  we  assemble 
, to-day.  Let  us  dwell  yet  a moment,  then,  on  two  or 
three  topics  suggested  by  our  subject. 

1.  Those  who  oppose  or  neglect  the  cause  of  missions, 
prove  themselves  ignorant , or  regardless,  of  their  own  in- 
debtedness to  this  very  cause. 

Suppose  you  contribute  of  your  property,  perform  la- 
bor, exercise  self-denial,  to  Christianize  some  dark  por- 
tion of  the  earth.  In  process  of  time,  civil  and  religious 
institutions  rise  and  flourish,  and  a pagan  tribe  is  trans- 
formed into  a Christian  people.  For  a time  that  people 
cherish  a just  sense  of  their  obligation  to  your  kindness. 
At  length,  however,  among  distant  generations  are  found 
those  who  have  never  informed  themselves  and 'conse- 
quently knoAv  nothing,  or,  if  informed,  are  regardless,  of 
what  you  have  done  to  place  them  amid  their  blessings  ; 
and,  when  solicited  to  aid  in  sending  the  Gospel  to  others, 
they  refuse  and  neglect  the  object  proposed,  and  even 
complain  because  others  do  something  for  its  advance- 
ment. How  would  you  regard  such  conduct  ? Would 
you  not  say  that  they  must  be  grossly  ignorant,  or  crim- 
inally regardless,  of  their  obligation  to  that  cause  in  which 
you  had  labored,  and  which  had  raised  their  ancestors 
from  heathen  darkness  and  degradation,  and  given  them 
a name  among  civilized  and  Christian  nations  ? You  did 


21 


not  expect  they  would  make  to  you  a return  for  what  you 
had  done,  but  you  had  a right  to  expect  that,  when  able, 
they  would  be  willing  to  do  something  for  other  and 
darker  regions.  Yet  by  their  refusal  and  neglect,  they 
would  be  doing  no  worse  than  those  among  us  who  oppose 
or  neglect  the  cause  of  missions.  For,  as  we  have  seen,  we 
have  only  to  trace  back  our  history  for  a few  generations 
to  find  our  own  ancestors,  in  the  British  islands,  as  gross 
heathen  as  the  world  ever  saw.  We  have  also  seen  that 
to  the  work  of  missions  we  are  indebted  for  all  that  makes 
ours  a superior — a happier,  condition. 

2.  The  obligation  to  prosecute  the  work  of  missions  rests 
not  upon  the  Church  alone. 

Common  blessings,  received  or  provided,  create  a com- 
mon obligation.  This  none  will  question.  How  then 
will  the  principle  involved  in  this  admission,  apply  to  the 
present  topic  ? On  whom  does  it  place  the  obligation  to 
sustain  and  extend  the  cause  of  missions  ? Has  not  that 
cause  conferred  temporal  blessings  upon  us  all  ? Has 
not  God  made  provision,  present  and  future,  for  all  ? Did 
not  Christ  die  for  all  ? What  if  you  do  not  choose  to 
avail  yourself  of  his  great  salvation  ; that  does  not  free 
you  from  obligation  to  our  common  Saviour.  What ! the 
fact  that  you  have  not  obeyed  the  command  to  avail  your- 
self of  the  Gospel  for  the  future,  as  well  as  the  present, 
absolve  you  from  the  obligation  to  sustain  at  home,  and 
send  abroad  that  Gospel ! The  neglect  of  one  duty  to  be 
admitted  as  a valid  excuse  for  the  neglect  of  another  ! 

Say  you  there  is  a difference  between  the  Church  and 
others  in  respect  to  this  obligation.  Wherein  ? Do  you 
say  the  Christian  is  bound  by  covenant  obligation  to  sus- 
tain and  extend  the  institutions  of  religion  ? True,  the 
Christian  is  bound  to  fulfil  his  covenant  promise  ; but  he 


22 


was  bound  to  sustain  and  extend  the  Gospel  prior  to  that 
promise.  Every  man  is  bound  to  make  the  promise  and 
to  fulfil  it  when  made.  If,  then,  the  Christian,  by  his 
promise,  has  fulfilled  one  obligation,  a double  obligation 
rests  on  all  others.  Let  every  non-professor  bear  this  in 
mind. 

The  principle  here  involved  may  be  illustrated  thus  ; — 
A father  has  two  sons.  Both  are  equally  indebted 
to  him.  The  same  blessings  for  the  present  and  the 
future  are  provided  and  offered  by  the  father.  They  can 
share  alike  if  they  choose.  Whether,  therefore,  they 
promise  or  not,  are  they  not  equally  bound  to  obey  the 
father’s  command  ? Suppose  one  promises  to  obey,  does 
that  absolve  the  other  from  obligation,  both  to  promise 
and  obey  ? By  no  means.  But  “ have  we  not  all  one 
Father  ? Hath  not  one  God  created  us  ? Has  he  not 
provided  equal  blessings  for  us  in  the  present  and  the 
future  ? Is  he  not  hourly  saying,  “ Whosoever  will,  let 
him  come  and  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely  ? ” 

So  far  as  the  point  now  under  consideration  is  concerned, 
the  distinction  between  the  Church  and  others  is  not  to  be 
regarded,  any  more  than  in  the  payment  of  a school  or  a 
highway  tax.  You  may  never  send  children  to  the  pub- 
lic school,  nor  travel  on  the  highway,  but  you  are  Held, 
morally  and  legally,  for  their  support,  because  they  are  a 
public  benefit.  But  greater,-  infinitely  greater,  is  the 
public  benefit  of  the  Gospel,  as  the  moral  changes  which 
it  has  wrought  in  human  society  abundantly  testify  ; and 
to  that  Gospel,  neglector  of  its  provisions,  negleetor  of 
God’s  house,  you  are  this  hour  indebted  for  all  that  gives 
security  to  your  property  and  that  renders  your  condition 
superior  to  that  of  the  savage.  Two  individuals,  there- 
fore, possessing  equal  means,  are  bound  to  contribute 


23 


equally  for  the  support  and  extension  of  the  Gospel, 
though  one  may  be  a professor  of  religion,  and  the  other 
a non-professor  and  a worldling.  The  Christian  has,  in- 
deed, the  highest  motives  for  engaging  in  this  work — 
motives  drawn  from  the  common  salvation,  not  only  pro- 
vided and  offered,  but  possessed  and  enjoyed  ; but  every 
man,  because  he  might  possess  and  enjoy  the  same  salva- 
tion,— every  man , who  esteems  civilization  better  than 
barbarism,  his  own  creed  better  than  gross  heathenism, 
has  a duty  here  which  he  is  imperiously  called  upon 
to  perform, — a duty  which  he  cannot  neglect  without 
adding  to  his  other  sins,  the  open  and  hourly  violation  of 
the  command,  “ Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.” 

Finally,  The  encouragements  to  labor  in  the  work  of 
missions  are  abundant. 

These  may  be  drawn  from  all  the  past  history  of  mis- 
sions. As  not  a century  since  the  apostles  began  at  Je- 
rusalem,— not  even  excepting  the  tenth,  that  compara- 
tively “ iron  age,” — has  passed  without  efforts  for  pro- 
moting the  cause  of  missions,  so  not  a century  has  de- 
parted without  witnessing  the  cheering  results  of  those  ef- 
forts. Some  of  those  results  have  been  enumerated  in  the 
present  discourse,  and  they  have  been  found  to  correspond 
with  the  efforts  employed.  When  the  church  “ sowed 
sparingly,  or  bountifully,”  she  reaped  in  like  measure. 
“ When  she  watered  she  was  herself  watered.”  This 
has  been  among  the  choicest  fruits  of  her  labor. 

But  encouragements  are  to  be  drawn  from  faith  in  the 
divine  promises.  “We  walk  by  faith.”  Lift,  then, 
faith’s  telescope,  God’s  Word,  and  look  far  yonder  ! See 
you  those  ages  of  Zion’s  glory,  given  in  Isaiah’s  pro- 
phetic roll  ? See  you  beyond  those  millenial  scenes,  that 
city  whose  “ foundations  are  garnished  with  all  manner 


24 


of  precious  stones ; ” whose  wall,  “ great  and  high,  is 
jasper  ; ” whose  “ twelve  gates  are  pearls ; ” whose 
“ streets  are  pure  glold,  as  it  were  transparent  glass  ; ” 
whose  “ length,  and  breadth,  and  height  are  equal  ; ” 
where  stars  and  suns  fade  away  ; and  wrhose  “ light  is 
the  glory  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  ? ” See  you,  the  na- 
tions of  them  that  are  saved,  “ walking  in  that  light  1 ” 
See  you,  Israel’s  sealed  tribes,  “ a hundred  and  forty 
and  four  thousand,”  and  that  great  multitude  which  no 
man  can  number,  of  all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people, 
and  languages,  with  palms  in  their  hands,  and  clothed  in 
robes,  washed  and  made  w7hite  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  ? 
Hear  you  their  anthems  of  praise, — “ Salvation  to  our 
God  who  sitteth  on  the  throne  and  to  the  Lamb  ! ” See 
you  there,  to  what  purpose  the  Son  of  God  came  on 
his  mission  ; to  what  purpose  apostles  and  others,  in  long 
succession,  have  toiled,  and  suffered  and  died,  to  prose- 
cute and  complete  that  mission  ? See  you  there  the  re- 
muneration, glorious,  everlasting,  which  shall  crown  the 
work  of  missions  ? Then, 

“ Rouse  to  this  work  of  high  and  hoi}’  love, 

And  thou  an  angel’s  happiness  shalt  know, — 

Shalt  bless  the  earth  while  in  the  world  above ; 

The  good  began  by  thee  shall  onward  flow 
In  many  a branching  stream  and  wider  grow ; 

The  seed  that  in  these  few  and  fleeting  hours, 

Thy  hands  unsparing  and  unwearied  sow, 

Shall  deck  thy  grave  with  amaranthine  flowers, 

And  yield  thee  fruit  divine  in  heaven’s  immortal  bowers.” 


^3 


m 


